Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, visited Kabul to emphasise US support for President Hamid Karzai whose popularity has nose-dived following riots in the Afghan capital and a bloody resurgence of the Taliban in the south.

“I don’t know anyone who is more admired and respected in the international community than President Karzai for his strength, for his wisdom and for his courage to lead this country first in the defeat of the Taliban and now in rebuilding a democratic and unified Afghanistan,” Ms Rice told reporters at a press conference in the heavily fortified presidential palace.